Hume and Dr. Robertson' (_ante_, v. 92,
n. 3). He is not unlikely, in Robertson's case, to have sought and
obtained Johnson's help.
XII.
_The following letter is published in Mr. Alfred Morrison's 'Collection
of Autographs', vol. ii. p. 343._
'To Dr. TAYLOR. Dated London, April 20, 1778.'
'The quantity of blood taken from you appears to me not sufficient.
Thrale was almost lost by the scrupulosity of his physicians, who never
bled him copiously till they bled him in despair; he then bled till he
fainted, and the stricture or obstruction immediately gave way and from
that instant he grew better.
'I can now give you no advice but to keep yourself totally quiet and
amused with some gentle exercise of the mind. If a suspected letter
comes, throw it aside till your health is reestablished; keep easy and
cheerful company about you, and never try to think but at those stated
and solemn times when the thoughts are summoned to the cares of futurity,
the only cares of a rational being.
'As to my own health I think it rather grows better; the convulsions
which left me last year at Ashbourne have never returned, and I have by
the mercy of God very comfortable nights. Let me know very often how you
are till you are quite well.'
This letter, though it is dated 1778, must have been written in 1780.
Thrale's first attack was in June, 1779, when he was in 'extreme danger'
(_ante_, iii.
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